Why it is important to embrace rapid change, Mark Greville, Workhuman

Interesting interview with Mark Greville, Workhuman, who explains why rapid change is important for all innovative companies.

Describe yourself and the company–the elevator pitch …

I am the VP of Architecture at Workhuman. We are the world’s fastest-growing integrated social recognition and continuous performance management platform. Our tech helps people build a workplace culture based on gratitude and human connections, serving many of the biggest companies in the world.

I’m obsessed with studying world-class technology design and trying to put the lessons into practice. I am a CITA-P certified IT architect and a member of the Maynooth University Computer Science advisory board. Maynooth University is my alma mater; I studied Maths and Economics there. It’s a fantastic institution which had a massive impact on me, so I’m delighted to help in any small way.

I’ve worked for over 20 years in various technology roles. Before joining Workhuman I worked at Bank of America where I oversaw Global Risk Analytics in EMEA. In addition, I’ve worked at smaller firms and start-ups, including building various telecoms systems, mobile software and a social network. Having been a songwriter and musician for most of my early years, I am particularly interested in the intersection of Creativity and Technology.

At Workhuman our human applications are shaping the future of work by helping organisations connect culture to a shared purpose. Workhuman Cloud is an essential platform for global companies seeking to motivate and empower their people to do the best work of their lives.

How is your company different?

Workhuman is an industry leader in social-recognition and continuous performance management. We are at the forefront of shaping the future of work, building a culture based on gratitude and human connections for many of the world’s largest enterprises. We practice what we preach and our own workplace culture is second-to-none. Our repeated success at the annual Great Place to Work awards reflect this, the pinnacle of which was being named the Best Workplace in Ireland in the medium-sized business category this year.

Why embracing rapid change is important

Why are you doing well?

We are putting humanity right at the heart of workplace culture. We recognise that many people spend more time at work than with their own families. We believe the workplace should be a welcoming environment that people enjoy being in. Our product is amazing; it helps companies around the world with this–making work a happier, more productive place.

Where are you based?

Park West Business Park in West Dublin, where we recently opened a beautiful, newly expanded headquarters. We are co-headquartered with our office in Framingham, Massachusetts.

When was the company launched?

Dubliner Eric Mosley found the company in 1999. Formerly Globoforce, we are now doing business as Workhuman.

What has been your biggest win to date?

Aside from joining Workhuman (I’ve only been here a few weeks!), my biggest ‘win’ in work has been from my time in banking. The margin risk system that helped Merrill Lynch navigate the 2008 financial crisis immediately springs to mind. I was the architect on a platform called MDS which was a risk management solution examining exposure from different perspectives. Using an early version of a data lake design, MDS (built in Dublin) uncovered questionable trading and issues with certain instruments and liquidity. This early insight allowed Merrill to act at the beginning of the crisis and was key in helping the bank survive the turmoil that followed.

Who are you trying to attract to your company?

We are looking for good humans with a passion for learning and for building great solutions. Experience in cloud-based technologies, data strategy, and integrations are areas of immediate focus, but we have a wide range of open roles at all levels. We want people who can help us build on our cloud capabilities, helping take our systems beyond the workplace into a broader social platform. At Workhuman, we take research and product development seriously–it’s what allows us to lead the way in this movement. In the last five years, we’ve invested more than $60 million in research and development to bring new innovations to our award-winning tech platform.

Earlier this year, we announced 150 new jobs as part of a major €4M expansion of our Dublin HQ. To meet our incredible growth we are on the look-out right now for a range of skills not just in tech but also HR, finance, e-commerce and operations.

What tips would you give to others looking to build their business?

Increasingly, we measure success in speed of turnaround and speed of change. The most successful tech companies can go from an idea to product in customers’ hands within a single day. In the long term, these companies will overtake others with bureaucratic processes. It’s critically important to embrace rapid change, no matter how radical it seems.

For individuals, I believe good habits are vital. In the book War of Art, Stephen Pressfield states that “The difference between an amateur and a professional is in their habits. An amateur has amateur habits. A professional has professional habits.” Cultivating good habits and scheduling them will transform working life. Say you are attempting to write, learn a new technology, or improve fitness.

You decide on a daily habit, maybe learning for 60 minutes every day and schedule it in the diary. If you do it more often than not (maybe 3 days out of 5), after 12 weeks that’s 36 hours – a full weeks new learning complete. If someone was to ask for a week off every 12 weeks to study I’m not sure we could print the response, but with a new habit in the schedule it’s achievable.

Tell us about your team?

The culture amongst our team is astonishing and with that comes an enormous commitment to the company’s vision. A lot of the people on the team have been with Workhuman for 10 years or more, and the company is only 20 years old. The team helped to build this business from something that started small to a leader in the global market, helping the biggest companies in the world. Workhuman is on its way to becoming one of the huge success stories of the Irish technology sector.

What are your plans for the future?

I want to help evolve the company’s product to a global social platform that goes beyond the workplace. I want our world-class platform taking further advantage of technologies and processes to serve our customers in the best way possible. I hope that doing so will allow people to spread more gratitude socially, in their clubs, communities and schools on a day-to-day basis, spreading a little more positivity in what can sometimes be a cloudy world.

What are your favourite tech gadgets?

The many distractions in life are a big challenge, so the ability to focus becomes vitally important. To help I use an app called ‘Be Focused’ which allows me to focus for 25 minute periods with a 5 minute break in-between. It’s based on the Pomodoro Technique. There are no distractions during this time, no email, phone calls, texts, coffee time, nothing. You take a 5 minute break, so a 25-minute slot is achievable. It acts as a concentration training tool and once I started using it, I found it easier to concentrate.

As a big music lover, I use Qobuz which streams high resolution music. The better the headphones, the more important the resolution of the music becomes, so I pay extra to get what some say is a miniscule increase in quality. I’ll trust my ears on this one! Finally, I use the Way of Life App to track goals and remind me of what to focus on.

In the evenings, I switch off all gadgets and spend time with my family.

Maybe after everything is said and done, my favourite gadget is the off button.

How do people get in touch with you?

We are on the look-out for people to come join our tech team now so to apply for roles with Workhuman, visit: https://www.workhuman.com/company/careers/

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